Getting bit by the travel bug while being abroad

November 12, 2012

Blogger: Marilyn Bran

If you are abroad, you have to take advantage of it and travel to places near your location.

Since my last post, I have been all over Spain and Europe. IES Salamanca has taken us on trips to Zamora and Toro, Andalucia (which is Granada and Sevilla), and Toledo. These places have all been amazing and they each have their own little culture. One of my favorite places I visited in Spain was La Alhambra which is in Granada. The Alhambra is a palace and a fortress complex with an Arabic influence on the architecture. It was very beautiful and the detail on the walls was unbelievable. Another place I enjoyed was Toledo because it was similar to Salamanca. It was small enough where you can walk anywhere and that’s exactly what we did. We walked through the city as a group stopping at the cathedral and some museums and also visited a site where they made swords. Yes, Toledo is known for its sword-making abilities. *Fun fact: Toledo used to be the capital of Spain until the 8th century when the Moors conquered Iberia.*

Speaking about travelling, some of my friends and I have travelled around Europe as of late. As a “study break” before midterms, a couple of us went to Palma de Mallorca which is an island off the coast of Spain. The weather could have worked with us a bit though. It rained for most of our trip, but we got to enjoy a little fun in the sun before running through the heavy rain. I’ve also travelled to Ireland and London which were both amazing! And finally, this past weekend my friends and I went to Milan, Italy and Geneva, Switzerland. Milan was definitely one of those experiences that I will remember. When we got to Italy not only did we not know Italian, but we were lost in translation. We tried to buy train tickets to take us to a street close to our hotel and out of nowhere two people came to “help” us. They didn’t speak English or Spanish and we didn’t speak Italian so we were just trying to buy our tickets. But long story short, when it was time to pay for our ticket, let’s just say some of our money went missing. Yeah, we were robbed. They were pretty quick!

Well like I said, it’s a memory I won’t forget. Other than that little bump, we took advantage of our day in Milan. The buildings were pretty, but nothing compared to the cathedral that took 600 years to built...600 YEARS!!After visiting museums, convents, and shops we got a goodnight’s rest. The following day we took a train to Geneva, Switzerland and may I say this was a gorgeous city and country! The atmosphere was so calm, safe, and welcoming that I did not want to leave. I think my favorite part was seeing snowy mountains. While we were there, we went to visit some museums, churches, a dome, a huge park, vintage neighborhoods, but most importantly the UN. We got a little history of the UN and what they currently do in the Switzerland center. But one damper to our trip in Geneva was that this city is EXPENSIVE. It is the fourth and fifth most expensive city in the world. Go figure. With the UN, the Red Cross and other big organizations you would realize this was an expensive city, not to mention all of the chocolate being produced there! Of course we couldn’t leave Switzerland without buying good ol’ tasty chocolate!

Unfortunately our trip was only for a few days so we had to say good bye to Switzerland, even if we didn’t want to. We had to keep reminding ourselves that we had school the next day because we ARE studying abroad. Well I hope you have enjoyed this little summary of my trips. Next time I will talk more about the Spanish culture and Salamanca.